Drivers going off-track is a typical area of dispute for stewards to rule on

Few things generate more heated debate on this site than decisions taken (or not taken) – by F1 race stewards.

In the last few seasons stewards’ decisions have often contradicted earlier decisions, and similar verdicts can take anything between minutes and hours to be taken.

The FIA at least seems to have recognised the system is broken and is now scrapping the role of permanent steward and bringing in experienced former drivers to improve stewarding at races. Will this finally lead to quicker and more consistent decisions?

A smaller permanent group of F1 Stewards will sit with experienced former F1 drivers to provide a permanent panel of three FIA stewards, together with one steward representing the National Sporting Authority, to deal with F1 at each Grand Prix.

There will no longer be a non-voting Chairman and each group of stewards will elect their own Chairman amongst themselves for each race. Utilising video and radio exchanges they should aim to reach decisions very efficiently.

The current observer programme for F1 stewards will continue, and training, distribution of decisions, and an annual meeting will be encouraged to raise the quality of decisions in this permanent group.

Goodbye (then hello?) to Alan Donnelly

Alan Donnelly was appointed to the role of non-voting chairman of the stewards at the beginning of 2008 and. This position is now being scrapped – but is it being done to get rid of the role or move Donnelly elsewhere?

Donnelly was a firm supporter of Max Mosley, who unhesitatingly promoted new FIA president Jean Todt as his successor. Today’s WMSC announcement also confirmed Todt’s pre-election plan of creating a Commissioner for the FIA’s different racing categories, including F1. Perhaps the man for the job will be not Mosley, but Donnelly?

Back to the matter at hand, it was under Donnelly’s direction that the stewards took some of the most hotly-contested decisions of recent years.

Not least of which was the decision to strip Lewis Hamilton of his win in the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix. Donnelly was at the heart of the controversy – he was the only one of the four stewards to ask Hamilton questions during his interview.

I’m cautiously optimistic that abolishing the non-voting Chairman role will be a change for the better. But there’s no denying F1 had its share of bad stewards’ calls before Donnelly’s time – such as the penalty given to Fernando Alonso in qualifying at Monza in 2006.

Drivers decide

Former F1 drivers will be invited to bring their experience to bear on decision-making.

In principle, this is a great idea and one that has been demanded for a long time. But its success depends on which drivers are chosen.

At the moment it isn’t clear who these might be but, as we’ve discussed here before, they will have to be carefully chosen to ensure they are sufficiently experienced and do not unduly favour one team over another.

An improvement?

It’s too early to say what kind of effect these changes will have, but come the end of next season we should have a good idea.

The latest changes seem to be along the right lines. But I’m not convinced they will make a significant difference unless the rules are updated to clear up common areas of dispute, such as drivers going off-track to gain an advantage, whether teams can communicate with race control following an incident, and what are the limits a driver can go to to defend their position.

Do you think the changes will improve stewarding in 2010? Have your say below.

33 comments on F1 stewarding gets another overhaul

A, “smaller permanent group of stewards.” This sounds logical. I was led to believe, though, that the former F1 drivers putting in their input would not be permanent. I understand that it may be difficult to employ a permanent group of former F1 drivers to sit on the stewards board, but these guys will be like a “guest” advisor in other words? OK, lets say that Piquet Sr. is a guest advisor? hahaha There is probably more than one former driver that has an ax to grind! Just having fun. This does seem like a step in the right direction.

Step in the right direction, but I agree with Keith, we need better clarification of rules (currently, cutting a chicane at the Bus Stop is frowned upon, but taking a faster line through La Source isn’t, even though it breaks the same rule)

I think this is great news.. and having clear precise rules that everyone can follow is another great suggestion.. using former F1 drivers is a great idea and keeping one set of stewards is something that needed to happen.. how can you possibly have continuity in the decisions when you always have different people making the decisions?

I can’t imagine there being a problem with a drivers being bias towards an ex team in a decision because you couldn’t hide behind anything… any decision you make would be public knowledge.. if they do make the decision process transparent it would be impossible to get up to any shinaginans.. should be a step in teh right direction..

I think it would be more useful if the Stewards had better training, which I see is mentioned by the FIA, and if all the unwritten rules were written down and agreed on (as manatcna points out), otherwise no matter which Stewards are present, which ex-drivers are present, and who is the Chairman, there will still not be an consistancy between races and incidents.
Also, much more should be made of the replays and telementary information in the decision making, and above all it should be a fast decision, an instant on-track penalty and get on with the racing…..
And remembering the last few years, it might help if the Stewards paid attention when the teams make a decision too (like handing back places taken in error). I often have the feeling that the Stewards never actually watch the race, and don’t talk to the teams unless they really need to….